About
Methodology
For this report, M+R and MobileActive.org looked at historical list size, text messaging broadcast, fundraising, and advocacy data from the six partner organizations. Those partner organizations were the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Defenders of Wildlife, and Human Rights Campaign. The list skewed toward groups that had an advocacy component to their work, as these were often among the earliest adopters of text messaging technology in the United States and have the most historical data available.
Not all organizations' results were included for each data point. Though some organizations have had text programs for several years running, other groups had operational programs for fewer than 18 months when we pulled the data for the study.
In calculating percentages for the graph below – "Where do Subscribers Come From?" – we looked only at those organizations with uncorrupted source data. Not all text messaging platforms capture data on subscriber origin, and three of the six organizations had to be excluded from our calculations because of incorrect or otherwise insufficient data.
M+R and MobileActive.org only included organizations with at least 13 months of list size data into list growth and churn calculations. Four of six partners fulfilled this criterion. Data was used from the year-long period spanning August 2008 to August 2009.
We only calculated response and unsubscribe for message types that were sent by three or more organizations who sent at least two messages of a given type. Data used came from messages sent between September 2008 and August 2009.
Acknowledgments
This report was written by Michael Amoruso and Jessica Bosanko of M+R Strategic Services (M+R), with Katrin Verclas of MobileActive.org (Mobile Active).
Michael Ward, Jeremy Hatter and James Dunham provided assistance with editing, data analysis and coordination. Michael Amoruso collected and aggregated the nonprofit participants' data.
This report would not have been possible without the participation of our nonprofit study partners and the help of our sponsors, Mobile Commons and mGive (Mobile Accord's domestic division), in compiling data and offering expert guidance.
About M+R Strategic Services
M+R is dedicated to helping our clients advance their missions in order to bring about positive change. We do this by helping organizations and campaigns we believe in develop smart and effective strategies, hone their messages, mobilize their members, build grassroots support, raise money, and communicate effectively with the media, the public, and decision makers, both online and offline.
About MobileActive.org
MobileActive.org is the leading clearinghouse for information on mobile technology for social impact.
We are a network of more than 10,000 people and organizations who use mobile technology for social change. We conduct research, connect people through conferences and events, and we advance the use of mobiles for NGOs and civil society organizations through tactical guides and our blog. We also maintain a database of mobile applications, research, case studies, and strategy resources for nonprofit organizations.